Daily Dothttp://www.dailydot.com/Daily Dot Articleen-usMon, 10 Sep 2012 17:24:46 +0000Australian Football League player's homophobic remarks draw Twitter backlashhttp://www.dailydot.com/news/australian-football-player-homophobic-tweet/<p><img src='//cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/1e/96/1e96a4310eb0b8adc745c63b1f3d6bc2.jpg'></p><p>
An Australian Football League player&rsquo;s campaign to promote tolerance of gay footballers got some unexpected support after another player took to Twitter and criticized it.</p>
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Footballer Jason Ball launched a <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/i-ve-experienced-homophobia-in-aussie-rules-football-first-hand-now-it-s-time-to-end-it">campaign on Change.org</a> last week calling for the league to start a &ldquo;pride round&rdquo; of games to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community to show the AFL&rsquo;s support. But notoriously outspoken player Jason Akermanis tweeted his disgust Sunday, sparking outrage among LGBT supporters.</p>
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A reporter for Melbourne&rsquo;s Channel 9 <a href="https://twitter.com/cstanaway/status/244609001373982720">tweeted out</a> Ball&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-09/gay-footballer-calls-for-afl-pride-round/4251060?section=sport">story</a> Sunday calling the story &ldquo;brave,&rdquo; but Akermanis responded from his personal Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/DrewBoyTweets/status/244696617180073984/photo/1">account asking</a>, &ldquo;Who cares?&rdquo; Akermanis received angry tweets from supporters of the pride round, calling out his homophobic behavior.</p>
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&ldquo;Lots of people care, Jason. Not everyone is a hateful bigot like you,&rdquo; <a href="https://twitter.com/HeSaySo/status/245104158833778688">tweeted</a> Marcus T. Another Twitter user, Grace Angwin, <a href="https://twitter.com/graceangwin/status/244764230497214464">tweeted</a> &ldquo;real men support equality.&rdquo;</p>
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Some tweets used the hashtag #WeCareJason to respond to Akermanis. According to social measuring service Topsy, the <a href="http://topsy.com/s/WeCareJason/tweet?window=d">hashtag garnered</a> nearly 400 tweets.</p>
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After the onslaught of tweets toward Akermanis, the 35-year-old player told people to &ldquo;get a life,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/who-cares-about-gay-footballers-campaign-akermanis-tweets-20120910-25nts.html">according</a> to the <em>Sydney Morning Herald</em>. He has since deleted his Twitter account.</p>
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Ball told the Sydney-based newspaper that he was humbled by the support from Twitter users and that he was not concerned with Akermanis&rsquo; comments.</p>
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&quot;Negative comments are less than enlightening, but that does not bother me,&quot; said Ball. &quot;If anything, negative comments just highlight that there is a problem.&quot;</p>
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It&rsquo;s a problem that has gained traction, if the Change.org petition in support of the campaign is any indication. The petition, which was &ldquo;terrifying&rdquo; for the openly gay player to write, has more than 16,000 signatures which Ball will send to the league&rsquo;s chief executive officer.</p>
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In 2010, Akermanis came under fire for another <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2010/06/australian-footballer-akermanis-demoted-for-homophobic-remarks.html">homophobic message </a>in a newspaper column he wrote. He told gay footballer players that the &ldquo;world of AFL footy&rdquo; was not ready for them and to stay in the closet.</p>
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Ball said that attitude is what he hopes to change with his Change.org petition.</p>
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&quot;The AFL needs to show (gay) players that it&#39;s got their back,&quot; he told the newspaper. &quot;We can change the culture so that in the future an AFL player can show that they are gay and it&#39;s not an issue.&quot;</p>
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<em>Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography/6719090271/">Eva Rinaldi/Flickr</a></em></p>
jordan@dailydot.com (Jordan Valinsky)Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:24:46 +0000http://www.dailydot.com/news/australian-football-player-homophobic-tweet/SocietyTwitterNews